Our Trustees

Karen Brown (Chair)

Karen has served on the boards of several charities and was chair of Oxfam GB's board of trustees from 2011 until October 2017 and a member of Oxfam's international board. She has a particular interest in supporting children and young people with fewer opportunities. Karen previously enjoyed a distinguished career in television, as deputy director of programmes for Channel 4 and managing director of 4 Learning. Leading Channel 4 in this area for a number of years, she devised and supported several programme campaigns, including a drive (in conjunction with libraries) to encourage reading, and another tackling hidden illiteracy among adults. She is a governor of Ravensbourne, a design, media and digital university sector college and trustee of Book Works, another Arts Council supported organisation, who publish and make artists' books

Hugh Shanks (Vice Chair of Trustees)

Hugh worked for Citibank in HR for nine years and then joined Towers Perrin, the global HR consultancy where he worked for 24 years in a variety of consulting and leadership roles. For the last seven years he was on the main board of the firm and chaired the HR and Remuneration Committee. Since retiring from full time consulting in 2010, Hugh has focused on charitable activities and is Chair of Guildford Home-Start (a family support charity), a mentor for care organisations and a churchwarden in the local church. Hugh is married with three children, all of whom are pursuing careers in the arts and he enjoys dog walking and cycling in the Surrey Hills.

Peter Roche (Treasurer)

Peter qualified as a Chartered Accountant and after some time in Kenya has spent the last 40 plus years in Book Publishing. His last executive role was as Chief Executive of The Orion Publishing Group and Deputy Chief Executive of Hachette UK. He is currently Chairman of Atlantic Books.

Nicola Briggs

Nicola has held a number of senior roles, largely in media and content publishing. She was head of news at the Press Association before moving to be news editor and then deputy editor at Express Newspapers. More recently, she worked at publishing company LexisNexis International, where she was editorial and publishing director and later commercial director, taking a lead role in the company's transformation into a leading digital content provider. After LexisNexis, she was senior director of change and transition on the executive team at Amnesty International. From there, she moved to the National Trust, where she is regional director for London and the South East. Her passions include reading, theatre, running and music - and she is learning to play the saxophone.

Derek Wyatt

Derek was a publishing director at William Heinemann but was tempted into television and produced programmes for BBC, ITV and C4. He ran WireTV and then created dot.tv for BSkyB before entering Parliament as the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. He was a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the DCMS and the FCO. He founded the Women's Sports Foundation and the Oxford Internet Institute. He is the chair of Royal Trinity Hospice and FISP. He is currently working on a BRAIN charity and a Digital World Foundation. He has written seven books and is studying for an MA as a part-time student at King's College. Far too many years ago, he played rugby for Oxford University, the Barbarians and England.

Claire Malcolm

Claire Malcolm is the founding Chief Executive of New Writing North and created many of their flagship projects such as the Northern Writers' Awards, Read Regional and the Gordon Burn Prize. As well as leading the company she also works directly on projects with HE partners, commissions new work and is editorial director of the publishing venture Mayfly LLP. She also hosts literary events and chairs discussions at book festivals. She has an MA in Leadership from City University and is a graduate of Newcastle Common Purpose. Claire is a board member of the publisher And Other Stories. She is a regular judge for the Saltire Society's Scottish Publisher of the Year Award and has worked as a consultant for Arts Council England and Creative Scotland. She regularly speaks at conferences and events, most recently on diversity at the Publishers Association's Diversity and Inclusivity conference in London.

Fiona Collins

Fiona M. Collins was a lecturer in English Education at the University of Roehampton for 25 years. She taught on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules linked to primary teacher training and children's literature. She also had various managerial positions within the School of Education. Throughout her time at Roehampton she was involved in a number of externally funded research projects. Children's literature has always been an important part of Fiona's professional interests and, as such, she has contributed chapters/articles to various edited books and academic journals. At the present she is a trustee for both the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre and BookTrust. She also continues to review children's books for a parent/teacher website and acts as a freelance consultant occasionally.

Hsin Loke

Hsin, who is originally from Malaysia, holds a degree in Biological Sciences and D.Phil. in Immunology from Oxford University, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC. Over the last 14 years, Hsin has worked for GlaxoSmithKline in a variety of Finance and Strategy related roles; she is currently the Strategy and Finance Director for GSK's Rare Diseases Unit. This is Hsin's first Trustee position. Hsin is married with two young children, and spends her spare time reading, running and as a ballet beginner.

Meredith Niles

Meredith is the strategy and innovation director at Marie Curie. Prior to joining Marie Curie, Meredith was an investment director at Impetus Trust, the venture philanthropy funder, and an executive director at Goldman Sachs. Meredith also donates her time as a trustee of Hestia Housing & Support and Toynbee Hall.

Eleanor Shawcross Wolfson

Eleanor has spent the last decade working in politics. She was at HM Treasury for six years, first as a Special Adviser and then Deputy Chief of Staff to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. During her time at the Treasury Eleanor concentrated on supply-side policy, and Departmental spending. Before joining the Treasury she worked in the House of Commons a political adviser to the Shadow Chancellor. Eleanor began her career as a consultant in the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked mainly on private equity, consumer goods and financial services. Eleanor is also a Trustee for The Winnicott Foundation, which supports the Neonatal Intensive Care Units at St Mary's and Queen Charlotte's hospitals, and works to improve the outcomes for premature and sick babies.